A wide variety of latch assemblies and/or locks are disclosed for door of various types in the prior art. Generally, such latch assemblies are employed in connection with doors movably mounted on a frame, the frame forming an opening for receiving the door. In a typical combination, the door is hinged along one side to the frame so that the door can swing upon its hinges between open position and a closed position. Hinged doors of this type are commonly employed in cabinets for various purposes and also in vehicular doors for example.
As discussed in greater detail below, the present invention particularly contemplates a latch assembly for use with such a cabinet door which is rotatably mounted by hinges or the like on a supporting frame. However, it will be apparent that the latch assembly of the invention may also be employed with other hinge doors, for example those on vehicles and the like. In addition, the latch assembly of the invention may also be employed with doors of different types as long as a portion of the door moves into or toward engagement with a portion of the frame in a closed position and away from the frame portion into an open position.
The present invention further contemplates a latch assembly of the type employing multiple pins which are movably mounted in a housing and interact to control operation of a door.
A variety of latch assemblies of this type are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 15,963; 1,355,735; 3,736,778 and 3,843,174.
The latter two patents contemplated latches for relatively specific purposes which were accordingly of relatively complex design. U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,174 disclosed an anti-theft door-locking apparatus developing a very large spring load when closed so that the door can readily be opened only by authorized personnel having access to suitable specialized equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,778 disclosed a combination lock including a slide member movable between latched and unlatched positions while interacting with a plurality of dial type combination locks.
U.S. Pat. No. 15,963 issued Jan. 24, 1865 to Andrews disclosed a basic shutter bolt with a generally conventional latch pin for holding the shutter closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,355,735 issued Oct. 12, 1920 to Crompton, et al. disclosed a latch assembly for vehicular doors. Its latch assembly included a first bolt member operable by a second plunger member when a third retaining member was released.
Latch assemblies of the type summarized above are generally representative of the large number of prior art latch assemblies, at least in terms of the present invention.